LA 2317 
.L6 G2 
Copy 1 



Samuel Lewis 

Ohio's Militant Educator 
and Reformer 



By 
Charles Burleigh Galbreath 













.'^zJ 


^ "' '^k- 






$&$&§Mgl$g ; 


>. x . 






jnL * 












¥■'■' 




■•■ ? \ : -.-.:U.. ,.•:•:. 


HBBt' - 





SAMUEL LEWIS 

The First State Superintendent of Common 
Schools for Ohio. 



Samuel Lewis 

Ohio's Militant Educator 
and Reformer 



By 
Charles Burleigh Galbreath 



Columbus, Ohio 
MCMIV 



LIBRARY of CONGRESS 
Two Copies Receive 

DEC 1 1904 

, Oopyrighi £ntry 

GIAS3L O^ XXC. NO! 

COPY S„ 



^ 






v 



V 



Copyright 1904 
By Charles Burleigh Galbreath 




-4 
< 

u 

» 



To My Mother 
Jane Minerva Galbreath 



Samuel Lewis 

On the New England coast, about mid- 
way between Boston and Plymouth, 
stands a village that was founded in the 
early half of the seventeenth century. 
Through the intervening years it has 
borne the unfamiliar name of Scituate. 
A scene in the immediate vicinity, how- 
ever, is the theme of a favorite household 
song of America. Who does not know 
and at times fondly repeat : 

How dear to my heart are the scenes of my 
childhood 
When fond recollection presents them to 
view. 

This was the tribute of Samuel Wood- 
worth to his home adjoining the little 
village. The flight of years has changed 
the place, but its rural beauty remains. 

The subject of this sketch, like the 
poet, when far from this peaceful spot in 
the western wilderness beyond the moun- 
tains, fondly reverted to " the cot of his 



father" and the blessed associations that 
bound him to the dear old home. 

The days that he spent at Scituate he 
was wont to declare the happiest of his 
life. There, at the age of fourteen years, 
he bade farewell to grandparents and 
aunts with whom he had spent many joy- 
ful days when his father, a sturdy sea 
captain, was sailing his ship over the 
bounding main. This, in the realm of 
his memory, was ever to him the home 
of his childhood, but his eyes first opened 
to the light in Falmouth, Massachusetts. 
March 17, 1799. "I love to dwell on my 
early days spent at Scituate," said he. 
"Falmouth has a place in my recollec- 
tions, but when I turn to reminiscences of 
early days Falmouth is the episode while 
Scituate is the history." 

It is a singular fact that the boy w T ho 
was destined to win enduring fame as an 
educator had very limited opportunities 



for intellectual training and never at- 
tended a higher institution of learning. 
His school days ended before he had 
reached the age of fourteen years. Most 
of his instruction was received at the 
home of his grandparents. A maiden 
aunt was his principal teacher and "she 
never wearied in her efforts to give him 
as good an education as children of that 
age could acquire/' Her influence and 
that of a pious and devoted mother were 
potent factors in shaping for dl time the 
character of Samuel Lewis. 

At the age of eleven he began to accom- 
pany his father on short voyages along 
the seacoast. Later he was assigned to 
the post of cabin boy. This life and the 
example of his father gave him strength 
and courage, without the rudeness in 
those days too common among seafaring 
men. 

Financial reverses drove the father 
from the sea. The second war with Eng- 



land dissipated what remained of his 
earthly possessions, and in May, 1813, 
with his wife and nine children he started 
overland to the great West. 

The mother, three daughters and the 
youngest son rode in a wagon. The fath- 
er and five sons, including Samuel, 
walked all the way to Pittsburg. It took 
six weeks to perform the journey. Em- 
barking in a flat boat, the family descend- 
ed the Ohio and reached Cincinnati in 
July. 

They rented temporarily a. farm house, 
and those who were able to perform 
manual labor found employment among 
neighbors who were busv harvesting 
their crops. The following year they 
moved to Butler county and young Sam- 
uel secured a permanent position at sev- 
en dollars a month. Later he was em- 
ployed in carrying the mail; next as 
rodman with a surveying party. At the 



age of sixteen he made choice of his life 
work and determined to become a car- 
penter. Applying himself industriously 
to his trade, he was soon recognized as 
one of the most skillful workmen in the 
community. The father moved to the 
vicinity of Eaton, Ohio, where young 
Lewis superintended the erection of a 
comfortable farm house for the family. 

One year before he had reached his 
majority, he decided to enter upon the 
study of law. He secured a position 
in the office of the clerk of courts, at Cin- 
cinnati, and devoted his evenings to 
study. All the money that he had prev- 
iously earned he had turned over to his 
father. In addition to this, he paid for 
the remaining year of his minority. 
Pinched with poverty, he made many 
sacrifices to fit himself for admission to 
the bar. 

His manly bearing and industrious 
habits attracted the attention of eminent 



men who had business to transact at the 
clerk's office. Among the number were 
Jacob Burnet, Nathan Guilford and Will- 
iam Woodward. They gave him sub- 
stantial assistance in his effort to acquire 
a legal education. He was finally ad- 
mitted to the bar and promptly entered 
upon the practice of the law. Success 
came slowly at first, but it was not long 
until he had built up a lucrative practice. 

From childhood filial devotion had 
been with him a strong motive. He could 
not rest content if his parents were in 
need of any assistance that he could 
give. As prosperity came, he shared it 
with them. He bought a fine farm near 
the city and on it fitted up a home in 
which no comfort was lacking for their 
declining years. 

He was married in 1823. Active in 
cnurch work from childhood, his inter- 
est grew with advancing years and he 

10 



was licensed as a local preacher in the 
Methodist church. A funeral sermon at 
the burial of a friend was his last public 
address. He was early an active advo- 
cate of temperance reform. 

Fortunately, much of his correspond- 
ence has ueen preserved. This not only 
reveals the spirit of the times but also 
throws much light upon his personality 
and character. Extended quotations, 
of course, cannot be made, but the reader 
will pardon the presentation of two ex- 
tracts from letters to his children. They 
show that he was a fond father and a 
wise one as well. 

The proper use of money cannot be too early 
taught or learned. I would not have you 
place an undue estimate on money, or believe 
that your happiness is much concerned in the 
amassing of wealth. And yet you should early 
learn that it is absolutely necessary to obtain 
by your own effort as much as will supply 
your wants and save you from embarrassment. 



11 



This will be easy if you are industrious and 
economical ; both of which habits will be 
acquired and retained in early life with ease, 
but if neglected till manhood their attainment 
will be found difficult, if not impossible. 

He attached much importance to the 
art of composition. In a letter to his son 
he said : 

Select a subject to write upon, either de- 
scriptive or argumentative, — lay out, at the 
commencement, what you intend to do, — igo 
through with it, — review it carefully, — trans- 
pose, improve and change, till it is made as 
perfect as possible, then lay it by. Take up 
another subject in the same way, devoting as 
many leisure hours to it as possible. After 
a few weeks review critically the one laid by. 
It will require all your patience; but if you 
wish to succeed you must not tire. 

The benevolence of a wealthy friend 
and client opened up to Mr. Lewis a new 
field of useful endeavor in which he at- 
tained conspicuous eminence. Mr. Wil- 
liam Woodward, whose interest in him as 



12 



a law student has already been noted, one 
day called the young attorney to his home 
and requested him to write his will. He 
made known his desire to leave a part of 
his property for some philanthropic pur- 
pose, and asked Mr. Lewis to what ob- 
ject he thought the bequest could best be 
devoted. A firm believer in popular edu- 
cation, the latter promptly replied that 
an institution of learning, free to all 
youth of the city qualified to enter, would 
be a boon to the rising generation. He 
further suggested that it would be best 
for Mr. Woodward to proceed at once to 
make the gift, in order that he might, 
while living, see that the money used was 
applied in accordance with his plans and 
desires. This was approved, and the ulti- 
mate result was the Woodward High 
School. Mr. Lewis was appointed one 
of the trustees of the fund, to serve for 
life. 



13 



Shortly after the project was well un- 
der way, the Western Literary Institute 
and College of Professional Teachers was 
organized in Cincinnati. Its object, as 
set forth in the printed proceedings, was, 
"To promote by every laudable means 
the diffusion of knowledge in regard to 
education, and especially by desiring to 
elevate the character and profession of 
teachers to their just intellectual and 
moral influence in the community", a 
very worthy aim, to be sure, but some- 
what clumsily stated. Meetings were held 
once a year. Among the early members 
were Edward D. Mansfield, Joseph Ray, 
Daniel Drake, Alexander Campbell, Wil- 
liam H. McGuffey and others. Into the 
movement Mr. Lewis entered with his 
characteristic energy and zeal. A num- 
ber of his addresses and reports are to be 
found in the proceedings. In some of 
these he discussed such timely themes as 

14 



"The Best Method of Establishing and 
Forming Common Schools in the West" ; 
"The Cause of Fluctuation in Schools" ; 
"The Expediency of Adapting Common 
School Education to the Entire Wants of 
the Community." In one of his reports 
to this association he said : 

While I look with pride and exultation at 
the colleges that are springing up and flour- 
ishing in our land, as indispensable institutions 
in a land of freedom, I confess I look with still 
more anxiety to the common and private 
schools. Colleges may flourish and the people 
be slaves. General education cannot be sus- 
tained except in an enlightened, free and re- 
ligious community; nor can such a community 
exist without such an education. 

. Largely through the influence of the 
Western Literary Institute and College 
of Professional Teachers the attention of 
the state legislature was directed to the 
need of an official head for the schools of 
the state. In the session of 1836-37, Al- 



15 



fred Kelly, of Franklin county, intro- 
duced a resolution in the house directing 
the committee on schools to inquire into 
the expediency of creating the office of 
superintendent of common schools. A 
favorable report from the committee, 
embodied in a bill, soon afterward be- 
came a law. In recognition of his active 
interest in the movement, the legislature 
elected Mr.Lewis to the new office, March 
30th, 1837. The salary was fixed at 
$500. For this position he abandoned a 
law practice worth ten times as much 
and promptly entered upon the discharge 
of his new duties. 

He found an open but unbroken field 
for his activities. The state was virtually 
without a free school system. The chaos 
that reigned instead represented all forms 
and combinations from the strictly pri- 
vate to the quasi public school. 468,812 
persons between the ages of four and 



16 



twenty years were reported. Of these 
84,296 were in school more than two and 
less than four months, and 62,144 more 
than four months, in the year. 

The opportunity suited the taste of Mr. 
Lewis, who was by nature a reformer, 
and to his lofty ideals he gave freely of 
the physical, moral and intellectual en- 
ergy with which nature and experience 
had so generously endowed him. 

In his first report, published about nine 
months after he had entered upon the du- 
ties of his office, he stated briefly what 
had been accomplished. He had trav- 
eled over 1,200 miles, chiefly on horse- 
back; had visited more than three hun- 
dred schools ; had personally conferred 
with county officials ; had addressed pub- 
lic meetings in almost every part of the 
state on the subject of popular education. 
He set forth clearly the crying need for 
improvement and suggested a practical 



17 



and comprehensive system of free schools 
for Ohio. This included almost every 
feature of our system as it exists today 
and a number of reforms that still be- 
long to the future. In this and subse- 
quent reports he advocated free schools 
and a tax adequate to their proper sup- 
port ; township high schools ; county 
supervision; the erection of good school 
buildings ; teachers' associations, local, 
county and state; a state university; a 
state normal school ; free school libraries, 
centrally located in villages and town- 
ships; the publication by the state of a 
magazine, or periodical, devoted to> its ed- 
ucational interests. 

He urged a number of the foregoing 
measures with such disinterested fervor 
that at first he carried the people and the 
legislature with him. Provision w r as 
made for the increase of the school fund ; 
the Ohio School Director was edited by 



18 



the superintendent and scattered broad- 
cast over the state ; every county was vis- 
ited and a vigorous campaign was main- 
tained in behalf of free schools. The re- 
sult can be best shown by the following 
statistical synopsis covering the three 
years of his official labors : 

No. of No. of No, of Paid for Cost of 
Yrs. Sch'ls Pupils T'ch'rs Tuition School 

Houses 

i§37- -4,336 150,402 7,962 $317730 $61,890 
1838. .4,030 108,596 7-515 488,085 65,732 
1839.. 7,295 254,612 7,228 7or,09i 206,445 

About the middle of his term of office 
reaction began to manifest itself in var- 
ious parts of the state. The unselfish 
activity of the superintendent began to 
encounter the frigidity and inertia of 
public opinion. He fully realized the 
situation as it developed, and the re- 
doubled efforts that he made in behalf of 
his cause were not short of the heroic. 
On the platform and through the pub- 



19 



lie press he appealed to the people. Fly- 
ing trips were made to distant parts of 
the state through sunshine and storm. 
An incident will illustrate with what con- 
summate skill and power he faced and 
often vanquished the opposition. 

Having made an appointment for the 
discussion of the school question in a 
certain county seat, he had requested the 
resident auditor to arrange for the meet- 
ing. This timid official, realizing that 
there was serious and increasing oppo- 
sition in the community to Mr. Lewis 
and his ideas of popular education, ex- 
ercised the discretion characteristic of 
the wise politician and kept so quiet that 
the coming of the state superintendent of 
common schools was unheralded and un- 
known. Considerable feeling had been 
worked up against taxation for school 
purposes, and on the very day of his ar- 
rival the opponents had appointed an 

20 



evening meeting in the court house. 
Learning of the situation, he proceeded 
to the place where the hostile hosts were 
assembling. 

The meeting was promptly organized 
and a committee appointed to draft and 
report resolutions. These were soon 
presented. They expressed " opposition 
to the School Law, demanded its repeal, 
censured the superintendent in severe 
terms and imperatively demanded his 
withdrawal from office." 

Speeches followed in harmony with the 
resolutions. When a vote was about to 
be taken, Mr. Lewis introduced himself 
and asked the privilege of being heard in 
behalf of his cause. This was reluctantly 
granted, almost a majority of those pres- 
ent voting against it. He proceeded with 
his address as if there had never been any 
opposition to him or the school law in 
this particular community. For more 

21 



than an hour he made a characteristically 
earnest and eloquent plea for the educa- 
tion of the whole people. He won the 
large audience. The resolutions were re- 
jected. In their stead, others commend- 
ing in laudatory terms Mr. Lewis and his 
"self denying efforts" in behalf of school 
interests were almost unanimously adopt- 
ed,and the crowd pressed forward to con- 
gratulate the superintendent and pledge 
their support. 

Similar instances occurred elsewhere. 
When he could get the eye and ear of the 
opposition he won gloriously. He was 
a fleet traveler for his day, but facilities 
for locomotion were limited to the sad- 
dle and the stage coach. He was literally 
and emphatically "the man on horse- 
back," but he was not altogether "proof 
against peril" and "empowered with 
ubiquity." He could not be everywhere. 
He had the fervor to melt opposition, 

22 

LofC. 



but he could not spread it over an entire 
state. The result was inevitable. He 
was frozen out. 

The meeting of the general assembly 
in December, 1839, was the signal for the 
presentation of numerous memorials re- 
questing the repeal of the school law and 
the abolition of the office of state super- 
intendent of schools. In the midst of the 
rising storm, Mr. Lewis resigned and the 
agony was over. The "many headed" 
had their way and the nightmare of tax- 
ation withdrew from the couch of penny- 
wise inertia 

Mr. Lewis perhaps should have made 
haste more slowly. In his effort to in- 
augurate an educational millennium, he 
precipitated a temporary return to pri- 
meval chaos. But he did not fail. He 
could not fail. He gave the state 
a vision of better things that it 
could never forget. For the time be- 



23 



ing, the people were happy in the crimi- 
nal folly that they had inflicted upon their 
children. Mr. Lewis returned to Cin- 
cinnati with a clear conscience and a 
purse, it is needless to say, not over 
plethoric with the emoluments of official 
service. 

Though the "troublesome agitator" 
was gone, the trials of the legislature 
were not ended. It had to sit in judg- 
ment on the remains. What should be 
done with the "job"? Various methods 
of disposal were suggested. Some 
wished to transfer the office of superin- 
tendent of schools to the state auditor; 
others preferred the secretary of state. 
The senate voted to confer it on its own 
clerk. The house, jealous of its preroga- 
tives, refused to concur. Had there at 
the time been a porter who served botn 
branches, the plum would doubtless have 
fallen to him. The "job" finally went to 

24 



the secretary of state, who was given 
$400 to employ a clerk to discharge its 
duties. 

If this performance was not intended 
as a joke, subsequent events made it so. 
In 1839 there were reported 254,612 pu- 
pils and 7,228 teachers in the schools of 
the state. In 1842 the clerk in the office 
of the secretary of state reported 9,511%* 
pupils and 6,970 teachers. It is needless 
to say, with apologies to Grover Cleve- 
land and the late Senator Plumb, that 
the office had descended from a "public 
trust" to "a private snap." 

This status continued until, fortunately 
for Ohio, Samuel Galloway became sec- 
retary of state, and in the spirit of Mr. 
Lewis took up and carried forward suc- 
cessfully the work that the latter had in- 
augurated. 

Mr. Lewis never lost interest in the 

* The i pupil is officially recorded. The reader 
is left to his own hypothesis. 



25 



common schools. Many of the laws en- 
acted while he was superintendent re- 
mained on the statute books. Others 
were revived when the new constitution 
was adopted in 1851. That instrument 
vindicated his services and confirmed his 
title of "father of the free school system 
of Ohio." 

In the meantime, duty summoned this 
zealous patriot to another field. The 
spirit of universal liberty called with 
trumpet voice. Many heard, but few 
came. Samuel Lewis, resting from his 
arduous labors and slowly regaining 
health after a lingering illness, heard the 
call and answered, "Here am I." 

He supported General Harrison in the 
presidential campaign of 1840, but his 
sympathies were turning to the anti- 
slavery party. Popularity was rapidly 
returning to him. His services in behalf 
of the common schools were more and 



26 



more appreciated. The people and their 
representatives began to see that the 
state would have to return to the work 
that he had commenced. So generally 
had his services made him known to the 
people of Ohio and so highly was he re- 
spected that the leaders of the party in 
power approached him with the proposi- 
tion to make him their candidate for gov- 
ernor. He refused the offer and soon 
afterward, against the protests of per- 
sonal and party friends, openly joined 
the abolitionists and became their can- 
didate for the state senate in 1842, re- 
ceiving a few scattering votes. In 
1843, ne was a candidate for congress. 
In 1846, he received 10,497 votes for 
governor, which in the canvass for 
the same office two years later he in- 
creased to 16,918. In 1852, he was a 
prominent candidate for vice president 
in the convention of the free soil party. 



27 



As he had advocated the cause of uni- 
versal education, he now entered his plea 
for universal liberty. He was a con- 
spicuous figure in the tumult of those 
stormy times. His courage rose sub- 
limely with the contest, but his health 
gradually failed. In 1853, he was again 
urged to become a candidate for gov- 
ernor. He and his family protested. He 
finally yielded to the pressure of political 
friends, among whom were Salmon P. 
Chase and Benjamin F. Wade, with the 
assurance that he would be relieved of 
the burdensome work of the campaign. 
It was not in his nature to carry out such 
a program. The opening of the contest 
found him in the van of the liberty lov- 
ing hosts whom majorities could not 
daunt and the spoils of office could not 
buy. 

No mere sketch could do justice to the 
remarkable campaign. The hero of the 



28 



hour, under the inspiration of his cause, 
mounted like the eagle to his supremest 
flight. Night and day he appealed to vast 
audiences with a power rarely witnessed 
even in an Ohio political canvass. 
Doomed to certain defeat, he fought with 
the courage of a champion who felt that 
upon every address hung the issues of 
the campaign. He closed in the wild 
whirlwind of the fight with light trium- 
phant in his eye and hectic flush on his 
cheek. The result surprised his foes, 
and was a splendid tribute to his person- 
ality as well as to his cause/ 1 ' He went 
down in the shadow of defeat, but 
from the storm-swept heights he and 
his faithful followers saw victory dawn- 
ing with the years and heard in the 
distance the benediction of an emanci- 
pated race. 



*Mr. Lewis received 50,346 votes; the average vote 
for the other candidates on the same ticket was 34,435 



2V 



Beaming with satisfaction, he sought 
his quiet farm to rest and — to die. "1 
am now under sentence of death/' he 
calmly said as he approached the grave 
with the sublime fortitude and "unfal- 
tering faith" that sustained him all 
his years. His was an iron constitution, 
and life lingered. On July 28th, 1854, 
he sank into a quiet sleep and woke not. 
Ohio's militant educator and reformer 
was no more. 



J04 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 




